Transfer or float bridge.



J. B. FRENCH.

TRANSFER 0R FLOAT BRIDGE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3 191a.

Patented Sept. 17, 1918.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

%1 7a; Gram y.

ms NORRIS PETERS CO..PHD1a-|.|'rnn., msmucmm n. c.

I. B.-FRENCH.

TRANSFER OR FLOAT BRIDGE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3 ma.

1 ,279,31 6. Patented Sept. 17, 1918."

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2. e5.

W as wits a JAMES B. FRENCH, OF JAMAICA', NEW"YORK.

TRANSFERORFIZOATBRIDGE- Specification of Letters-Patent;

' Patented. Sept. 17 19.18;

Application filed-July 3, 1918. Serial No: 243,190..

7 To all whom, it may concern:

Beit known that I, Jenn-s B. FRENCH, a

citizen of tlie-Unitedistates of America, residing at Jamaica, LongIsland, 1n the county of Queens and State of New York,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Transfer or FloatBridges, of which the following isa specification.

My. invention relates to transfer'bridges, over which railroad ears arepassed from .their floats-to land, or vice versa, and the object of myinvention is to. provide. a support to span the gapwhich occurs betweenthe bridge rails and float rails under various conditions of tide,loading and unloading, and'thus not only to prevent derailment of thecars at this point, but also to protect the rail ends and adjacent partsagainst in jury.

In the accompanying v drawings,

Figure 1 is a plan'view ofthe juxtaposed ends of a car float andtransfer bridge to whiclrmy invention is applied in one form;

Fig.9 is an end elevation of the bridge;

Figs. 3 and 41 are longitudinal sections through the toggle bolt indifferent positions, I

Fig, 5 is a side elevation ofithe rail exten sion device and associated,parts Fig.6 is an end elevation thereof; Figs. 7 and S are. sideelevationsthereof,

showing the-bridge in diflerent angular positions with relation to thefloat and: showing. the. rail extension inoperative position. I

In their general characteristics the float 10 and transfer bridge 11-.are'of common construction and have laid-thereon theusual track rails12, 12 for the cars and: guard rails. 13, 13 adjacentthereto. As shownin Fig. l, theffloat 10 has been drawnto and is held in car-dischargingor receiving position by Y the 1 usual mooring winches l4 an d cables15. In order to maintain 1n register.

the ends of the tracks on th float and bridge, it is customaryto-prov1debn the bridge, heavy toggle bars-16 which slide inguidepockets 17 and take'into cooperating.

pockets 18-011 the float. Should th rails still fail of precisealinementafter-the tog? gles have been engaged; with the pockets on thefloat, the rails onthe bridge may be shifted transversely by means of arailadjuster 19. Even after these adjustments have been made, however,the rail ends on the float and bridge are not. necessarily brought toprecisely the same elevation, ar

ticularly if thetoggle littingsand railendshave become worn or distortedthrough use,

and, in any event, these adjustments do not prevent a considerableopeningor gapbetween the rail endswhen the. tidal conditionsare suchthat the bridge must be inclined.

It is the purpose ofthe present invention to reduce the bad effects ofthis difference in elevation of the rail ends.andtobridge the gap oropening between them'by the introduction of rail extension pieces 20,which, afterthe float has been moored and toggled and. the bridge railsadjusted, ifv

necessary, can be extended to spand the gap, and, after the passage ofthe cars has been completed and the float is about to be re leased, canbe withdrawn. In order. that these rail extension pieces 20 shall. not.be

damaged or cause damage to the. float or tothebridge, it is highlydesirable, if'not actually necessary, that they shall not remaininextendedposition whenthe-float is not toggled to the bridge, and I.have m, vlded, therefore,.an interlocking: arrangement to prevent theadvancement of the rail extensions '20 until after the toggles havebeen.advancedand'to prevent the-withdrawalof the toggles until aftertherail extensions have been withdrawn.

The rail, extension pieces 20, as here shown, comprise bars, the bodiesof which are of inverted T-shape (Fig. 6) lying closely adjacent theouter faces ofithe trackrails 12, soitliat thehead'of the rail overliesthe shoulder of the bar on one side, while the top; offthel'atter liesbeside and at substantially' the level of the rail head; Anv

anchor rail 21 lies against the opposite. side of the bar 20 with itshead overlying the shoulder on thisside. Both trackrail 12 and anehor.railQl' are fastened to a plate 22 which is free to slide transverselyonthe which it is presented in the positions which it must assume, dueto the inclinations of the bridge at different tides and differentstages of the loading and unloading operations. (See Figs. 7 and 8 hereshown, the nose of the rail extension is more or less wedgeshaped, theupper face being downwardly inclined from the plane of the rail and thelower face being upwardly inclined. It is obvious that, as the weight ofthe car is imposed upon the nose 25, the rail extension acts as ananchored cantaliver or bracket.

In order' to prevent the" rail extension from being driven fromoperative position when struck by the car wheels, I provide, at its rearend, an oifset arm or lug 26, against which bears the latch 27 freelypivoted in the brackets 28 and lying out of the way below the rail headin both operative and inoperative positions (Figs. 5 and 8).

The interlocking arrangement, which prevents the advancement of the railextension 20 before the toggles 16 have been advanced or the retractionof the toggles until the rail extensions have been retracted, issecuredby aninterlocking bar 29. This bar' extends transversely of the bridgebeneath the rails and carries, on the one hand, pawls 30 engaging thetoggles 16, and, on the other hand, a locking plate 31' engaging adownwardlly offset shoulder 32 on the rail extensions 20. Then thetoggles are withdrawn (Fig. 3), the pawls 30 are engaged by the lowerface of the toggles, and the bar 29 cannot be rotated, and since thisrotation is necessary in order to bring the locking plate 31' out ofengagement with the shoulder 32 of the rail extensions 20, the lattercannot be advanced. W hen the toggles 16 are advanced, however, thelongitudinal slots 33 therein are brought abOVe the pawls 30 and the bar29 is therefore now free to be rotated and the rail extensions 20advanced. The shoulretracted since the ends of the slots '33 impingeagainst the pawls 30 and are thus halted until the rail extension pieces20 have been retracted to the position shown in Fig. 5, thus freeing thelocking plate 31 so that the locking bar 29 can now be again rotated inthe reverse direction and the toggles retracted.

All of the partsviz., the toggles 16, the rail extensions 20, and thelatches 27-are operated by means of a bar in the hands of the attendantor by the foot, and the parts are ruggedly constructed to'this end andfor the rough ervice to which they are subjected. It will be obviousthat the details of arrangement and construction are merely illustrativeand may be varied in many ways without departing from what I claim as myIn the form invention. Moreover, while they have been shown as appliedto a particular use, the invention maybe adapted to various otherconditions to which the general arrangement and relation of parts aresuitable. V

I claim r 1. In a car transfer bridge, a car rail, and

a longitudinally shift-able rail extension piece lying wholly to oneside;thereof but,

associated therewitlf and projecting, in operative position, beyond theend of the car rail to span the gap between said rail and thecooperating rail of a car float and serving to support the car wheels asthey pass from the fioat railto the bridge rail.

2. In a construction such as specified in claim 1,'a rail extensionpiece'having only at its forward gap-spanning end awheelsupporting'surface inclined to the plane of the bridge rail.

3. A 'cartransfer bridge having different inclinations under differenttidal conditions and having a car'rail extending substan-- tially to theend of the bridge to cooperate 7 with the rail of a'juxtaposed oarfloat,

means to hold said float in juxtaposition to thebridge, and a railextension piece asso-,

, inclinations under ,dii'i'erent tidal conditions and having a car railextending substantially to the end of the bridge to cooperate with therail of a 'juxtaposed car 'float, means to hold saidgfioat injuxtaposition to, the bridge, and a railextension piece associated withthe bridge car rail andfprojecting, in operative position, beyond theend of the bridge to span the gap between the car rail thereon and thecooperating float rail when the bridge is upwardly inclined, thegap-spanning portion of theextension piece bein inclined-to approachthehorizontal inthis position of the bridge, together with means forretracting and extending said extension piece parallel to therailand'means for holding the samein both retracted and extendedpositions.

5. In a car transfer bridge, a car rail, and a rail extension pieceassociated therewith projecting, in "operative position, beyond the endof the car rail to span the gap between said rail and the cooperatingrail of a car float and serving to support'the car wheels as they passfrom the float rail to the bridge rail, in combination with means onsaid bridge to engage the car float and hold the same in predeterminedposition with relation to the bridge, and means in terlocking said railextension piece and float-engaging means to insurepredetermined sequencein the operation thereof.

(3. In a car transfer bridge, a car rail, and a rail extension pieceassociated therewith projecting, in operative position, beyond the endof the car rail to span the gap between said rail and the cooperatingrail of a car float and serving to support the car wheels as they passfrom the float rail to the bridge rail, in combination with means onsaid bridge to engage the car float and hold the same in predeterminedposition with relation to the bridge, and means intel-locking 'said railextension piece and float-engaging means to prevent the actuation of aidrail extension piece until the float-engaging means have been operated.

7. In a car transfer bridge, a car rail, and a rail extension pieceassociated therewith projecting, in operative position, beyond the endof the car rail to span the gap between said rail and the cooperatingrail of a car float and serving to support the car wheels as they passfrom the float rail to the bridge rail, in combination with means onsaid bridge to engage the car floatand hold the same in predeterminedposition with relation to the bridge, and means interlocking said railextension piece and float-engagin means to prevent the withdrawal of thelatter until the rail extension piece has been withdrawn from operativeposition.

8. In a car transfer bridge, a car rail, and a rail extension pieceassociated therewith projecting, in operative position, beyond the endof the car rail to span the gap between said rail and the cooperatingrail of a car float and serving to support the car wheels as they passfrom the float rail to the bridge rail, in combination with means onsaid bridge to engage the car float and hold the same in predeterminedposition With relation to the bridge, and means interlocking said railextension piece and float-engaging means to insure the actuation of thelatter in advance of the rail extension piece and the withdrawal of thefloat-engaging means after the retractionof said rail extension piece.

9. In a railroad bridge, a track rail, a rail extension piece associatedtherewith and longitudinally displaceable with relation thereto tobridge the gap between said bridge rail and a cooperating rail, engagingmeans to hold said rails in alinement, and means interlocking saidengaging means and rail extension piece to insure their operation inpredetermined sequence.

10. In a car transfer bridge, a rail extension piece longitudinallyshiftable to overhang the end of the bridge, means to hold said railextension piece in its advanced position, and structural means holdingsaid rail extension piece to the bridge and aifording a cantaliveranchorage therefor.

In testimony Whereof-I have signed my Copies of this patent may beobtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of intents,

Washington, D. G.

